Heart of the Eurasian Continent

Heart of the Eurasian Continent

Heart of the Eurasian Continent

The Heart of the Eurasian Continent is located 480 kilometers from Ürümqi and represents a unique natural geographical location, serving as a distinctive tourist attraction. The Eurasian Continent is the largest landmass in the world, covering a total area of 53.96 million square kilometers and surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Arctic Ocean. According to the Geography volume of the Chinese Encyclopedia: the concept of the Heart of the Eurasian Continent originates from the "Heartland Theory" proposed by H.J. Mackinder, a founding figure of modern British geography — the geographical heart of the Eurasian Continent is the "heart" of the landmass, located far from the coasts. The calculation of the heart's location was jointly completed in 1997 by the Xinjiang Institute of Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Wuhan Technical University of Surveying and Mapping, using GIS technology and taking the world map as the reference, to pinpoint it with precision. The geographical heart of the Eurasian Continent is at 83°

36 east longitude,

46°

14 north latitude. The main structure of the Heart of the Eurasian Continent consists of an observation deck, a base platform, and a central circle. The observation deck is a scaled-down representation of the Great Wall. The rectangular base platform encloses the central circle, symbolizing the ancient concept of "round heaven and square earth." Four groups of totem poles point in the four cardinal directions. The central circle has a diameter of 257.48 millimeters, which is one fifty-millionth of the Earth's diameter. The height difference between the central circle and the base platform is 590 millimeters, representing the altitude of the Earth's core at 590 meters above sea level.